Day 10 We made Landfall Galapagos Island 4/20/3
We made landfall at 3:30pm and spent an hour anchoring in a very small anchorage but managed to fit Dragonsbane. We went to shore on San Cruz Island in Academy Bay, Galapagos Islands. The town here is very clean and the local people are very helpful. I enjoyed Tacos for $5 dollars and was stuffed. The little town was full of shops and restaurants. I am looking forward to going scuba diving and take a few tours of the islands. For now I am going to crawl into my beer and rest for the night.
CHEERS!
Jacques
Day 9 Passage to Galapagos Island 4/19/13
Today was much like yesterday but last evening after I had sent my blog I caught a Tuna. It was a nice little tuna that I filleted up and put on ice for Sushi. For lunch I cooked up some sushi rice, and made my first sushi roll by hand. Ended up making 5 rolls and had some plain raw tuna as well. I can’t believe how good fresh tuna taste right out of the ocean. We all ate it up and can’t wait to catch more. So my fishing efforts have doubled and I used a squid that land on deck from last night. But like before I have not caught anything today but hopefully tomorrow morning.
We are only 100 miles from Galapagos Islands but the wind has died down to 5 knots and we are now moving at 1.2 knots. I think we will burn the fuel to motor the rest of the way. Another exciting fact is that we are only 2 miles north of the equator. I hope I get to see the poles marking the equator, haha just kidding. Anyway I am looking forward to making landfall but I hope we make it before the sun goes down or we will have to stay out in the ocean one more day.
Drink A Beer For Me Tonight!
Jacques
Day 8 Passage to Galapagos Island 4/18/13
I am starting to wonder what it will be like to walk on land after being on Dragonsbane for 8 days and hopefully only two more. I checked our distance remaining and we have 180 nautical miles until we get to the Galapagos Islands. When we land the fun really begins because all the locals speak only Spanish and we have to clear into the country of Ecuador. I read a interesting article from noonsite that a friend of the Family Don sent us of a recent cruiser that stopped in Galapagos Island April 4, 2013. They indicated that on San Cristobel Island the sea lions would board your sailboat if you have a sugar scope or landing at the stern of your boat. Well guess what we have a sugar scope and they said that it’s had to keep them off your boat. Great just what I need is Dragonsbane covered not only in seagull poop but, sea lion nasty poop too. I am also not sure how one gets a sea lion off your boat. I guess I will use pots and pans like I did in Boundary Waters to get the bears out of our tents. Right now I am already being followed by strange animals. Adam calls them UFF’s aka Unidentified Flying Foul which have been with us for the last few days and nights. I guess they also like company on a long journey across this dessert of water.
As we continue to sail my dad and Adam seem to be getting impatient for the soon to be landfall. They are ready to be off Dragonsbane and knee deep into Rum & Coke, but I am slowly enjoying the distance from everything. I feel so relaxed and stress free because no matter what no one can find me out here. The land problems of today don’t affect me and the idea that no matter how hard I sail Dragonsbane I will not go any faster then 7 knots. So I must sit back and enjoy the ride, read all the books I have put off my whole life, and think about all the important thing in my life. SON OF!!! I just burnt the brownies in this stupid oven! The dam thing is ether 450 degrees or colder then the air temp. Got to Go!
Remember to Always Check Your Brownies in the Oven!
Jacques
Day 7 Passage to Galapagos Island 4/17/13
Today was another exciting day of sailing with wind in the 10 to 20 knot range. We all spent most of the day doing house keeping thing on Dragonsbane. Washing cloths by hand and watching some of the cloths get blown off the life. I guess I won’t have to do so much laundry next time. Adam made spaghetti with red sauce but never put any SPAM into the sauce which made me sad. It was at least fun to watch a person without his sea legs make a meal well Dragonsbane jumping all over at a 20 degree slant for the first time. He is learning that when you set something down it fly’s across the cabin and that more of the lands on the floor then in the pot. He found this out last night when he set his coffee mug in what he thought was a secure location. As Dragonsbane jump across waves his mug jumped up, then shifted to the right, then down, and back up. I watched his mug go up, over, and then down on the floor and coffee everywhere. He gave up on coffee and went on watch pissed off enough to keep him up for 4 hours. An hour or two before his watch my dad was sleeping in the forward cabin and I hit a big wave that came over the top deck. My dad had not closed his hatch all the way and was waken up with a shower of cold salt water. He had fun cleaning that up today. But don’t think I am left out in all the fun of my two comrades I too have hit my head so many time from Dragonsbane shifting quickly and I have lots of cuts in my shins from kicking winches in the cockpit. My bed has been soaked at least 3 times sense we have left Panama. Yes the fun is just beginning and we are all in good spirits.
Keep trying, you will get there someday!
Jacques
Day 6 Passage to Galapagos Island 4-16-13
Today we finally had 10 plus knots of wind and knocked our distance down to 356 nautical miles. The weather was overcast but warm. We have not seen anything or anybody until about noon today when we were about 400 nautical miles from the closest part of land. We saw a boat that was only 20 feet long and had two of the craziest men I have ever seen. They had missing teeth and where sun backed dark brown almost black and covered in fish guts. They motored up next to us and asked if we would like some fish to buy or at least that’s what I thought they said in Spanish. I said no thanks, but I wish I had because I suck at fishing in the wide open ocean, yes I will admit that I have only caught 4 fish sense Panama. Anyway these two guys where in a 20 foot bass boat more or less and were riding the swells like it was a walk in the park, no VHF radio, no Radar, no running light, and no life raft. Just two guys sitting in boat fishing in the middle of the ocean. My hat is off to them because that is ether one of the stupidest thing I have ever seen or the bravest. God be with them!
Tonight Adam made at lovely meal of meatballs and rice with a cream of mushroom. It all tasted good and now he can cook supper too. The night has now approached and the wind is kicking up to 20 knots so I will have to end this blog and go reef the sails soon if it gets any worse.
Just remember even in the middle of an ocean you can be surprised by other humans! Our world has no boundaries anymore; they only do when you say I can’t!
Take care everybody, Night!
Jacques
Day 5 Passage to Galapagos Island 4/15/13
We have not seen a ship for two days now and we have not seen land for almost five days. We are very close to being halfway with 446 nautical miles to go. The sailing has been very slow, but interesting way out here in the middle of this liquid dessert. All around you can see the horizon that looks like it just falls off into nothingness. The water is a dark blue that changes from bright blue close up to almost dark black as your eyes look out into the open. Its strange not even to hear a jet flying overhead or a engine rumbling off in the distance. When everybody goes to sleep and I am on watch I can hear Dragonsbane slowly cutting its way through the ocean and the only thing that keeps me company is the compass and wind instrument as I study how the boat is moving along the 5 knot breeze. The sounds of water slapping the haul and the sails sheets being stretched as the wind fills them is the only sound left to hear. Every once in awhile I hear the faint sound of somebody below deck sounding off with a fart which makes me laugh, and I think it is to quiet out here. Then as I begin to think of friends and girls I wish I was home to say hi, but I get side track by some object flying right next to me in the cockpit. My heart speeds up and I can see just a bright green glowing light that follows me. Then it just shot straight ahead of the boat and is gone. I wonder if I am losing it, but then it is right back again and I think of hitting it with something. Then it gets so close to me and I hear a loud squawk and it is a bird, stupid bird thought you were some UFO or something. I settle back down and think of home again until something else happens.
Loving Life, but Missing you All!
Jacques
Day 4 Passage to Galapagos Island 4/14/13
We have found the wind for now and enjoyed 20 knots of wind for the last 14 hours and I hope it keeps up, but as I am writing the wind is dropping off. As for the rest of the day it was very eventful! To start we were sailing into a big squall and the wind was rising up to 24 knots so my dad and Adam started the task of reefing in the sail. I was trying to sleep but my bunk is right below the wench they where using. I may as well have stuck my head in a engine compartment because the winch is loud. So not being able to sleep I crawled out of my bunk and stood in the companion way and watch them work. Adam was at the helm and my dad was working at the wench trying crank in the sail. The wind kept changing so Adam was struggling with keep the sail full of wind. I was impressed by there team effort and decided not to get involved because our cockpit does not have the room for us all to complete the above task. As soon as my dad finished cranking in the sail the winch hand popped out of the drum and went over board, he tried to grab it but only lost his hate too. My dad was very pissed about losing his favorite winch handle and hat, I thought he was going to jump in for them but the wind changed so they had to tack the sail again instead. This time my dad took the helm and Adam began cranking in the sail. As they worked I tried saying thing like “Shit Happens” to improve there mood. As soon as Adam finished cranking the sail in he let his hand off the second best winch and it went right into the ocean and sank. Adam said SHIT HAPPENS!)@&(*&@ yeah right! So now we are out 2 good wench handles and still need to reef in the main so I get my gear on and start dropping the main sail. I get our old heavy iron wench handles out that look like something from the mid evil days and try to crank in the mainsail reef line but the winch is jammed. So I tap the button to engage the electric motor but the winch hand spins really fast and punches me right in the face but misses my front teeth. After a short string of profanity I finished reefing the main with a nice swollen face. Now the there is lots of rain and the inside of my cabin/bunk is wet with rain water, so now I have a water bed too. We are all wet in one way or another and the boat interior has some water in it as well. But the good news is we only have 498 nautical miles to go at 3 knots per hour. O yeah and I fixed the ripped sail too.
Enjoy Life Now because SHIT HAPPENS!
Jacques
current location: 4deg 8.4min north, 82deg 7min west
Day 3 Passage to Galapagos Island 4/13/13
Last night around 8pm we finally turned off the engine and started sailing. From 8 pm to about noon today we sailed about 70 miles. The wind is blowing from 3 to 9 knots but we are able to average 3 knots. The going is slow but we are going in the right direction. I figure it will know take us 10 days more to get to the Galapagos Islands. I fished all day and only caught a Jelly Fish, so I made fried rice and brownies.
This evening we ripped our light wind drifter jib which I am sad about and now have to repair. The good news is that as soon as we took down the ripped drifter and put up our heavy jib a big Thunder Storm approached us. It is a slow moving squall and is bowing about 10 to 14 knots of wind. Its very dark now and the lightening is so intense that I thought about putting my sunglasses on. We are all a little worried about the lightening hitting our 52 foot mast because we are the tallest point in the Pacific ocean for about 200 miles now. I fell like I am running around in a field with a metal rode in my hand! I do love the show it is putting on and love the thrill of the stress that comes with this storm. I will not lie, once again I have white knuckles on the helm and a big smile watching the ocean light up like 4th July.
Current location: 5deg 1.73min North, 82deg 8.76min West
Enjoy your evening,
Jacques
Day 2 Passage to Galapagos Island 4-12-13
Need a little wind here! As predicted we have not seen more then 5 knots of wind all day. As far as the eye can see is nothing but ocean polished glass. It is so perfectly smooth it reflects the few clouds in the sky, so you get dizzy looking at the two spaces of heaven and earth. We tried to sail a bit but the wind speed was only 3 knots and Dragonsbane with full sail only crawled forward at 1.2 knots. I tried fishing and caught nothing today but all around use is fish jumping in schools of thousands. The schools of fish are so big that it makes ripples on the flat surface of ocean which make me think there is wind approaching, but nothing. Adam made a great observation about the fish and said it was like looking out on a prairie and seeing all the Prairie Dogs popping there heads up. We also motored through a group of 50 or more Dolphins that were jumping and playing. The rest of our day included reading books and wondering if we should turn more south or keep heading in a south west direction straight for the Galapagos Islands. The decision is very difficult to make because we only have about 3 days of fuel left, which will leave us 200 nautical miles short of the Galapagos Islands which we must sail. If we head south we have a better chance at finding wind but we will add mileage to our trip. But a good note is we have lots of water, food, and we can be out at sea for many weeks, I just don’t want to! So if you can send us some wind!
Current Location: 6 degrees 1.44 mins North, 81 degrees 10.43mins West
Take it Easy!
Jacques
Day 1 Golapagos Island Passage
Well after spending a few weeks in Panama we have left it behind us only to find a very calm sea. We reviewed the forecasted wind and location and hope that the reports are right. Our plan is to motor about 300 nautical miles south west were there is a belt of east trade winds that blows about 10 to 18 knots. If we can manage to make 3 to knots we should make Galapagos Island in 8 days. But right now the waves out here in the Pacific is coming from Dragonsbane. It really is interesting to see the ocean surface like glass as far as you can look. But seeing such a flat surface you can see a ocean of plastic bags, Styrofoam cups, and other odd trash floating along. I can see the big peace’s of trash because the sea birds are standing on it and taking a brake from flying. I also have seen lots of schools of fish and I have caught 3 tuna so far but they are very small. With no wind it is very hot out here and so we are all melting into our seats and reading books. I hope for wind and look forward to sailing.
Thanks,
Jacques
THE DINGHY SANK!
Once again we tried our best to get under way but Panama had better plans for us today. To begin Adam and I went to shore after filling our diesel tanks up from the fuel cans we carry onboard. As we arrived we were informed that we had to pay $28 dollars for the use of the dingy dock. So we paid and spent the next hour filling up our 12 gallons of fuel. Only issue is that the fuel spout was bigger then the hole in our fuel cans so it took a long time to fill them. Next we ventured back unloaded the fuel and had lunch. I then spent a few hours plotting out our course to the Galapagos and finished a few other little tasks. We then decided that our Gasoline cans need to be topped off, but the gasoline is sold in a different place then the Diesel fuel. So being the smart crew that we are we decided to land our dinghy along a rock break wall that was right next to the gas station so we didn’t have to carry the two cans a ½ mile by hand. The landing went great, but when I got to the gas station they where just filling up the fuel tanks so I had to wait an hour before I could get my 10 gallons. My dad not knowing what was taking me so long dropped Adam off to see if I need help, nope I said this is PANAMA I am waiting! After fueling up we waved for my dad to come pick us up. As he approached the break wall the ocean swell lifted up the dinghy and then dropped the front end on a sharp rock and popped it. As we raced back to the boat I had my hand over the 4 inch hole trying to contain as much air in the dingy as we sank into the ocean. We made it just in time to unload the fuel, outboard motor, and other items. Now we have a dinghy with a 4 inch whole, a pound of glue, patch material and a hard lesson on why you never to take your rubber dinghy to a rock break wall.
Thanks,
Jacques
THIS IS PANAMA?
You know, I left for a trip around the world thinking to myself of all the wonderful places I will see, and the adventures I will experience. I never gave any thought to the overwhelming difficulty with language barriers and finding simple repair parts. For example our autopilot has not worked sense we left Annapolis Maryland five long months and 5000 miles ago. Three weeks ago we identified the issue and had to replace a part from the USA. I ordered it right away and it arrived in Panama a few days ago. Being used to UPS service in the USA I thought the part would be easy to get and we would be saved, NOPE! I found a very interesting phase “ THIS IS PANAMA!” Which means anything goes, I drank beers in cars, watched police walk around with M16 guns, motorcycles that drive everywhere but on the road legally, and that the UPS carrier doesn’t know there head from there asshole! To make a very long story short I finally received the package that was only 1.18 lbs after driving from one end of Panama City to the other over the course of 2 days $100 less money in my pocket “note the part is only $60 bucks”. The good news is that I improved on my Spanish and if anybody would like to play a game of charades I will kick your butt! The good news is that we have fixed the autopilot, but the bad news is that my new air compressor for filling scuba tanks arrived with a broken valve and now I have a 100 pound paper weight. So I will wait 1 month to get that part so I can fill my scuba tanks, o well at least the sun came up today! I guess its back to skin diving to wash the bottom of Dragonsbane. I tried that today but the Jellyfish stung a little to much so I gave up and will try another day. But at least I have a Cuba Libre Ron & Cola to wash down the stress and cool off in the hot sun.
Yup, taste just as good as you think it does!
Cheers! Enjoy life you only get one!
Jacques
Finally Through the Panama Canal & Now Off to Galapagos Island
The last two days have been very busy and I am glad to share a few photos of our transit through the Gatun Locks to the Pacific Ocean where we will prepare for our passage to the Galapagos Islands. The passage will take 9 days if we can keep our speed of 6 knots. This should be interesting because it will be my friend Adam first time out at sea. It will also be the longest time I have been at sea and I am hoping it will be as wonderful as people say. I have been watching the wind reports and it sounds like we should have 10 to 15 knots all the way to the Galapagos and I am hoping for 20 to 25 because we will not make good distance at 10 to 15 knots, so wish us good luck. My mom will be flying out of Panama tomorrow and will rejoin us sometime later on.
We put tires and bummers on both side of Dragonsbane to protect her from the lock walls, Tug boats, and Pilot boats.
We had to raft with 2 other boats before we went through the locks.
The Panama Canal Line handlers tossing there lines to us so we could tie our heavy rope lines to them. They would drag in our rope lines and tie us off to the canal walls.
The target is for the line handlers that walk the walls of the Canal. They practice throwing there monkey balls at the target and over the top pole.
The water rushing into the locks to raise us up to the next lock of 3
The lock has finished filling and I am now 50 feet higher looking out over the Caribbean Sea
After we went through the first 3 locks we spent the night on the fresh water lake and tired to a mooring ball for a freighter, enough room for two sailboats. We awoke at 6:30am and motored 5 hours to the Pacific locks on the lake. We then went through 3 more locks and dropped 150 feet to Pacific sea level.
Jacques and Adam talking about something important as we motored through the lake !
One of the load ships on the lake between the two locks of the Pacific and Caribbean Sea
Tug pushing a Freighter throw the Lake
After we finished our Transit a dingy tender came along side Dragonsbane and took all our tires and ropes for $10.
Thanks,
Jacques
In The Pacific
We made it through the Panama Canal and we are now anchored right off of Panama City. We enjoyed some beers and when I get the internet issue worked out I will post some pictures. But for now I am working on my beer!
Thanks,
Jacques
Transiting the Panama Canal Tomorrow so Watch
Tomorrow we are scheduled to Transit the Panama Canal in the Gatun Locks at 3:30pm 4/5/13. If you check the Camera link: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html you will see Dragonsbane hopefully if the Schedule is not changed. We will then spend the night in the fresh water Gatun lake between the Caribbean Sea locks and Pacific locks. We will then motor 5 hours to the next lock and hopefully pass through the last three locks at around 12:30pm 4/6/13. I will fly our Dragonsbane Flag so it will make us stand out more. Hope you see us all, look for the blue sailboat. Also my friend Adam will be joining us tongiht and hopefully for the next year or so of the trip.
Our Panama Canal Transit Number
Our Colors for Dragonsbane AKA: our Flag
Thanks,
Jacques
Happy Easter
I am still waiting to transit the Panama Canal but I am staying busy finishing up all the task I really do not want to do. On Tuesday my dad and I will help out a friend to transit the canal with there sailboat before we go through. I am excited to see how the transit process works and by doing so I know I will have much more confidence when it comes time to bring Dragonsbane through the locks. Anyway hope you are all enjoying your friends and family this holiday. I look forward to getting out on the Pacific Ocean and blogging daily once we are underway again.
Take Care,
Jacques
Hanging In There
You know its funny that when I read books on adventure and watched movies about people traveling around the world they always included someone getting sick. I never thought about it nor did I think that I could get sick but I was wrong twice. I guess after getting out of the Jungle and then sailing for 3 days I was hit by a bug pretty hard or something. I thought that it may be the onset of malaria but I am just about 100% normal haha. I hope that I continue to feel better and I am looking forward to our transit through the Panama Canal in April. I just wish that it was not so hot here, its 90 degrees with very high humidity and no wind. At night it gets down in the mid 80’s but the mosquito’s come out and you have to stay in the cabin where its hotter. I just can’t win the heat battle here.
The marina we are in is full of cruisers making their way through the canal and working hard on thier sailboats for the next leg of their trip. My dad has been busy scrubbing and working on the boat the last few days as I have been laying around sick however I rather be scrubbing. We have also been working hard with all the paper work and red tap it takes to get through the canal. The rules here in Panama are very difficult and there are a lot of things set up in ways to make you pay more money than you should have too. But the great thing about traveling is the struggle of the journey. One day I may make it all the way home and look back at this and laugh.
Our Marina, Kinda nice to see all sailboats and only one motorboat on our dock!
Thanks,
Jacques
Made It Into Panama
Arriving into Panama Canal
Just wanted to let everybody know that we made it into Panama and my mom was waiting at the dock. We are going to start doing some repairs and arranging our trip through the canal. It should take us about two weeks to get through the canal and I will let you all know how it goes.
Thanks,
Jacques
Day 2 to Panama Canal
Not to much to report today only that the wind is falling off and we may have to fire up the motor to get the rest of the way to Panama. The wind is about 10 knots, waves 3 feet, and sky is cloudy. I am seeing a lot of ships now and that should make for a interesting night sail.
Current location: 10deg 29.68min North, 77deg 40.23min West
Thanks,
Jacques
Day 1 to Panama Canal
We are making good speed at 8 knots to Panama. I m hoping that we will get to the Panama Canal during the day but its not looking good. Anyway i thought I would let you all know we are doing good and enjoying the wind 25kts, and the waves 7ft.
Current Location: 11deg 3.9min North, 75deg 31.0min West
Thanks,
Jacques
Out Of Colombian Jungle and Off to Panama!
Our Truck to the Jungle
The Team, From top left to right Rich, Mickey, Tom, Phoebe, Graham, From Left to right bottom Jacques, Simon, Romana, Matt
I survived the South American Columbia Jungle and I am now sailing to Panama for the next 2.5 days. I have to say that the trip to Columbia was the best decision so far on our voyage. My trek into the Jungle started 5 days ago in Santa Marta. I arrived at Magic Tours and was greeted by two English men Simon and Rich who booked the same 5 day trip to the Lost City. I was glad that Simon new a lot of Spanish and could understand what was being said. We took a trip by taxi to the city limits and were joined by the rest of our new team to trek into the Jungle. All 9 of us, plus the drive stuffed ourselves into our new clown car which was a small Toyota truck and spent the next 2 hours on the road driving deep into the Jungle.
Jungle Road
We finally arrived at the Jungle National Park and were met by armed government grads with machine guns and full camo. They granted us access to the Jungle two track road and we headed into the Jungle Mountains on a muddy path that twisted along the edge of mountains inches from the canyons below. The road was covered in mud, rock, and we crossed through streams to arrive in a mountain village.
Our Start
We had a quick lunch provide by our 2 new guides and cook. We then started our 4 hour hike into the Jungle which started out by hiking through a mix of Jungle and ranchers farmers as we climbed higher and higher to our camp for the first night. The terrain was a mix of streams, and steep muddy paths that had cross traffic of local ranchers moving supplies by horse through the mountain. We finally arrived 4 hours later at our campsite number one. The campsite was rustic, but included a hammock with an insect net for sleeping. We enjoyed a great meal of pasta and fruit from the jungle. We then enjoyed talking to one another about our travels and places we have been. We played cards and most of group went to bed. But a few of us wanted to play one more game in the candle light. As we played 100’s of insects started to cover the table around the candle light and soon our playing cards where covered with bugs. We had to shack the cards every time to get the bugs off so we could play. We quickly decided that after the king of hearts started to walk away by itself that the game should end and we went to bed. But our guide told us to use our flashlights and make sure we looked at the ground as we walked for poison snakes, and scorpions. I crawled into my hammock and found it very uncomfortable because my legs kept going to sleep. I soon found out that no matter what you always slid down in the hammock and the blood rushed to my head. Even though I was uncomfortable I was soon asleep as the jungle came alive with millions of new noises that I have never heard but was very soothing.
Campsite 1
The Trail day one
Photo of me
Photo From the Trail
The Jungle
We all awoke early the next day excited to hike deeper into the Jungle. Our breakfast was simple eggs, toast, fresh fruit, and juice. I filled my bottles with fresh boiled smoked water and put on my backpack. We hiked for 4 hours again and arrived in the afternoon at campsite 2. We all took a swim in the river that was next to the camp and enjoyed cooling off from the intense humid heat of the jungle. The water was cool and clean. Once again I enjoyed conversation between my new friends about American and English politics. We talked about our occupations, and the standards of vacation time, pay, typical working hours and so on. I found it interesting that other than the amount of time off we get we all work way to much and the world is getting too fast and out of control. As we continued to talk the rain started to dump down and the noise of the rain hitting the tin roof reminded us that we were really in the deep jungle of Columbia. As the sun went down we all went to our bunk beds this time and listened to the rain, and all the jungle things sing us to sleep.
our Swimming Hole
Camp 2
Me in the Jungle
The normal muddy Trail
hiking into the jungle
In the Jungle
View from the Trail
Horse coming through look out!
One of many pigs
View from the path
Camp 2
We woke up again with eggs and toast, packed our bags, and slipped into our day old wet cloths. We all decided that there was no point in wearing fresh dry cloths because within 10 minutes you where wet to the bone for the rest of the day. The jungle was very hot and wet this 3rd day. I could not tell if I was sweating or drenched with the thick hot mist of the jungle as we climbed high up into the mountains. Sometimes the trail was so steep that we had to use our hands to pull ourselves up the trail. After being covered in mud, wet, and sweaty we arrived in camp 3. We were glad that it had bunk beds. Once again we played cards, learned more about each other’s cultural difference and had a great time. We had a great dinner but the steak we ate was not beef. The English folks thought it was Alpaca and I thought horse, not sure, anyway it all tasted great.
The group hiking along the trail
Phoebe hiking up the Trial
Matt on the Muddy Trail
Climbing up the mountain
Tom way above me on a switch back
The trail is very steep and muddy
River is high now! Can t wait to cross it
Camp 3
Crossing one of many streams
Climbing through the Jungle
More Climbing
Simon Climbing up the rock face
Looking down at Ramana from the trail switch back
One of many water falls
Camp 3
Day 4 we headed out to the lost city without our packs and hiked along the river for one 1km. We had to cross the river which after 3 days of heavy rain was moving very fast. We all made it safely across and where greeted by the 1800 steps that went straight up to the lost city. It took about 30 minutes of none stop stepping to get to the top at the lost city where the weather was very cold and wet. Our guide explained to us not to walk in the stone circle as these where sacred areas and that we were not allowed to enter so we didn’t. I could not believe the craftsmanship of the structures. I was told that what we could see was only about 10% of the city and the Indians would not allow the archeologist to dig anymore of the city up. The city was found by the cocaine ranchers about 15 years ago and looted the city of its gold, and jewels. Most of treasure has not been found but what has is now in Bogotá and England museums. The night before we got to the Lost City we talked with a local Kogi Indian about the lost city. The Kogi have lived in this region for thousands of years and to this day still live as they did then. They don’t believe in material things and believe in mother earth and everything that it gives. Matt one of our team members asked if they have noticed any climate change in the last few years. The Indian indicated that in the last three years 3 local plants have disappeared from the region. Also the rain and dry seasons have been very extreme and have never been so bad.
Crossing the River From the Lost City
River Crossing at Lost City
Group Crossing the river
Climbing
Still climbing
Climbing Climbing
lots of Lost City Steps
Climbing the very steep 1800 steps
Climbing up to the second level of the lost city
Lost City
Lost City
Lost City
Lost City
More Climbing
Colombian Army Watching Us
Me “Jacques” at the top of the Lost City. Made It!
The Dog named Dollar because he follows the the teams up and down the trail like the value of the dollar up and down.
After visiting the lost city we trekked back down the 1800 wet steps and crossed the rivers and hiked back to camp 2, ate dinner and enjoyed conversations with other hikers from Germany, Australia, and many other countries. We woke up and trekked through muddy mountains, and crossed deep streams and made it back to the village. We all thought the trip was great and where ready to be dry for more than a few hours. As we drove out of the mountains the rain had been so bad the driver got us stuck in the muddy ruts. We tried to explain how to drive through the mud but he was hell bent on putting the petal to the floor and letting the wheels spin. This Columbia drive was a Jack ass bottom line and because we could not drive the truck we got to push it out of the mud as he laughed. O well it made for a good story. Sadly we all had to part ways and continue on our own adventures and I hope that one day I will get to see all the people I hiked in the Jungle with. They are the best people I have every come across traveling and I wish them the best of luck.
More river Crossing
From the Trail
The River is crazy fast now
Trail high above the river
Our muddy return path
The View
Stuck in the Mud
Me and Tom pushing us out of the Mud. Mickey too but he was not muddy LOL
Coming into Santa Marta
Thanks,
Jacques
Some Video
A day in Santa Marta
Well like Jacques said Dad has to write the blog today. What to say where to begin?
Let’s talk about what I did today.
To begin with, I saw Jacques off this morning bright and early kind of like when he was in Boy Scouts back in Gladstone. He put everything into his back pack they told him plus those things experience has taught to take with just in case. He will be hiking through the jungle and camping out under the stars in the mountains of Columbia filling his canteen in mountain streams etc. Plus they will wonder through local villages and stop for a beer along the way. We’ll see how good it was when he returns.
From saying goodbye have fun I started cleaning the interior of the boat with Murphy’s oil soap. When you make a long passage such as we just completed the whole interior gets a sticky gritty feeling to it from salt spray that seeps into the interior and just doesn’t smell fresh, so we do a full spring cleaning after each trip, which takes a few hours. I also made water with our reverse osmosis water maker. The water at the marina isn’t safe to drink.
Then I went into Santa Marta to do some shopping. It’s like the shopping frenzy on black Friday. The streets are wall to wall venders selling everything imaginable. There must be 50 cell phone venders alone. People selling vegetables, hand made purses, hand made dresses as well as every chick name brand on the market. It is truly capitalism in its truest form. Very little regulation and buyer beware. However for the most part everyone seems honest and wanting to please and always always ready to bargain. But since I don’t speak Spanish I could only point and ask how much.
Also every few blocks there is a memorial square filled with statues dedicated to some famous person in their history. I found these people to be proud of who they are and of their heritage. They keep their City clean and preserve their historic places. It feels very safe, especially since there are armed military police on every street corner. Many of the structure go back to the early founding families. They also have a Super Market called Excite which has everything you will find at home or in WalMart.
Square just off of Celle 14
Outdoor Cafes and bars
Busy Street Filled with Venders
Statue in a Square
Expensive Hotel from the 1950’s
Finally I ended the evening by being invited to dinner by some very nice neighboring boaters from Canada Cedric and Janet Miller who have been cruising for the last five years, now they have some stories to tell.
Tomorrow I go to Cartagena by bus. They tell me it will take 5 hours to go 120 miles and that the ride is eye opening, we’ll see. We won’t be writing again until Friday
Thanks for Checking in
Dale
Waves of Madness and Eyes of Red Glow
Last evening as I awake from a sleepy daze, I could feel all the bruises from slamming into the edges of Dragonsbane cabin when the boat shifted quickly and caught me off balance. It was my turn to take watch for another 4 hours at night, helm the boat, and trim the sails. So I put on my salty shorts, damp t-shirt, and climbed my way to the helm. My dad noted that the wind and waves where becoming very big and strong. My dad took no time to disappear down to his bunk to try and sleep in this wash machine of an ocean.
About 10:30 pm the wind blew up to 40 mpr and the wave where now reaching 15 to 20 feet. Dragonbane was being tossed off the tops of waves like a paper airplane and then rushed down into the troughs with a very loud roar from the white capped waves breaking. Once in the trough the sails would become slack and sheets limp, then like a shoot gun the wind would fill the sails and snap the sheets against the steel mast shrouds. The sheets snapped against the mast shrouds so hard that the shrouds would make a loud ping sound like a tuning fork for a piano. At this point I was outside my comfort level and was very sleepy. So I rush down to my cabin grabbed a spicy Cuban cigar and dashed back up to the helm before Dragonsbane pitch to her port side and put the life rail underwater. As I stood turning the helm back and fourth I stuck my spicy cigar in my check and lite the thing with my little lighter blow torch so the wind would not snuff out the flame. The bright glow of my cigar clenched in my teeth and smell of spicy Cuban smoke filled the cockpit. I surfed down the waves only by the feel of Drgaonbane movements and my white knuckled grip, I got her up to 10 knots a few times only to end up in the trough of the wave stalled out.
Being in the trough of a wave at almost a stop is very bad news I found out. As I listened a huge roar like a locomotive was bearing down on me, so I turn around and could see only white foam and the glow of my cigar. I new the wave was going to fill the cockpit so I extended my neck like a turtle and pointed my cigar up into the air like a submarines periscope so the sweet spicy tobacco smoke would not lose its fire. The wave hit and the sound was loud but nothing happened other then myself getting very wet. It made me mad at the waves that kept this unwavering punishment on me and Dragonsbane. But I finally started to enjoy the unpleasant passage and looked into the chrome bars of the cockpit bimini shined up like mirrors. I could see the refection of the two glowing red images that came from my cigar but looked as if my eyes where glowing cherry red. I thought to myself I must be going mad if I think this fun! We finally made land fall at Santa Marta Columbia where I went to sleep for preparation for my 5 day hike into Colombia’s Jungle and the Lost Cityof “Ciudad Perdida”
I will leave you all in the good hands of my dad for the next 5 days as I will be in the Jungle!
Thanks,
Jacques
Sailing into Santa Marta, Columbia South America
Santa Marta Columbia
Day 2 On Our Way To Columbia
Yesterday was a very fast day on the water till about 4am. We sailed 9 knots for bout 12 hours and I thought that we would be to Columbia in no time but, as we sailed around the most north point of South America the wind died down from 35 mpr to bout 20mpr. The good news is that the wind is climbing back up but the swells are getting pretty big, about 20 feet so far. I have been told that the waves get really big the closer you get to Panama. Anyway funny story, last night as I was at watch a flying fish hit me in the back. It didn’t hurt it was just funny to see all these flying fish, fly into the boat. I must of tossed back 10 of them from the cockpit. The not so funny story was all the waves that kept coming into the cockpit last night. I know its hot here but that water is cold at night when you get soaked.
Current Location: 12deg 17.36min North, 72deg 54,64min West
Thanks,
Jacques
dragonsbanevoyage 